Try getting some of those ideas through Congress, widespreadpanic. Try getting anything through Congress.

Proud Dad of a US Army Airborne Ranger SFC
Retired US Army 1SG/MSG, Airborne Infantry, G-3, Instructor
Former USN - Submarines, USS Chopper (SS 342) & Navy Diver, UDT 21
I was a Soldier. I am a Soldier. I will always be a Soldier.

widespreadpanic has some good points except for legalizing marijuana and building that wall...

Well the wall would be quite a feat. It would minimalism illegal immigration but would not stop it. They can dig deep, deep holes and tunnels to maneuver. I'm more concerned with extremist coming up from Mexico across open borders than anything.

The legalization is close to being a done deal in this country. It is a much safer alternative to alcohol and the only reason it is illegal in the first place is because of smear campaigns in the early 20th century. I did extensive research on this in college on a paper I wrote for an independent study my final semester. I basically researched, and wrote, about the history of drugs in our country, why they became illegal, and a actions we can take to reduce usage. We spend far too much in this country on the "war on drugs" to have seen no success, especially this long into it. I basically argued that we should decriminalize all drugs. Not saying make them legal (with the exception of marijuana) but putting users in the same prisons as rapist and murderers isn't the answer. I'd rather see tax dollars going towards sending them to facilities that can get them the help that they need as opposed to recycling them through the system. It should still be illegal to distribute but being caught with small amounts shouldn't result in jail time. Besides, it should be a personal choice if you want to do something harmful to your body. Now if you commit a crime while on drugs and it is determined that the drugs caused you to to commit the crime then you would still be punished accordingly. People are going to find and do the drugs regardless. If we can help reduce usage by getting them real help then health problems would be reduced and the crime rate would go down.

For what it's worth my professor for this paper was a retired Lt Colonel and, surprisingly, he rather enjoyed my outlook. Got an "A" on the paper and the course (The paper was the only thing I had to do. It took me a full semester and was around 20 pages long). I didn't expect that because every college kid idiot usually writes a paper on legalization but I wanted to go more in depth and so I did.

"Summer was all there was we were workin', breathing heat....terror rising out of control" ~5th Squad, 12th Stealth, Warsaw, Poland

Try getting some of those ideas through Congress, widespreadpanic. Try getting anything through Congress.

Wish I could. I was a political science major and have had thoughts about doing something but I have all but given up hope. Special interest groups and money hungry corporations have their claws so deep into politicians that it would take an act of god to pull them out. Nothing short of a revolution in this country is going to change that. Money talks, BS walks!

"Summer was all there was we were workin', breathing heat....terror rising out of control" ~5th Squad, 12th Stealth, Warsaw, Poland

Yea, probably... but really, going on GW on Iran is a spent cartridge.. that puppy was used on Iraq..

There's more than one way of destabilising a country. I was reading an article recently showing the correlation of food prices rising in parallel with civil unrest in the middle east....food prices as you know are directly effected by oil prices as is everything else come to think of it......

There's more than one way of destabilising a country. I was reading an article recently showing the correlation of food prices rising in parallel with civil unrest in the middle east....food prices as you know are directly effected by oil prices as is everything else come to think of it......

Fully agree.... its all about understanding what makes a culture tick...

Tenants of Bushido;

‘We should never obsess about if we are going to die, but instead focus on how we live as those whom live an honorable life will always die a glorious death.’